Pharma industry, healthcare providers and pharma trade strongly feel that Prime Minister Modi's proposal to make doctors prescribe generic drugs is a mere message to the masses. Since his statement made at Surat in Gujarat on April 17, 2017 there has been no move to formally issue a set of rules as a follow up to the announcement.

According to Sunil Attavar, president, Karnataka Drugs & Pharmaceutical Association (KDPA), subsequent to the Medical Council of India (MCI) circular and after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s indication to legalise prescribing of only generic drugs to make it affordable for patients, there has been a lot of news reports about the same. Now the industry is waiting for clarity and further direction.

The move to sell generics by retail pharma trade is detrimental, noted Ravindra Kumar M J, member The Karnataka Chemists & Druggists Association adding that it would lead to unethical practices impacting the future of druggists and chemists. Unless medical practitioners indicate the name of the pharma company which manufactures the generic drug, there could be total chaos in drug dispensing.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon said, “The intent behind the move to prescribe generic drugs is laudable. However, its implementation will be challenging. This is because India’s drug regulatory system, in its current form, makes it difficult to determine whether each generic drug sold in the country is manufactured at cGMP compliant facilities with required quality checks for safety and efficacy.

From a healthcare provider’s perspective, Dr B S Ajaikumar, chairman & CEO, HCG Enterprises said, “We prefer only high quality and established brands to be prescribed for our cancer patients and this would make us feel more secure when we prescribe. Generic prescriptions are not the way forward because it would cause confusion and interfere with providing quality drugs to patients.

Contending with Dr Kumar, the Biocon chief said that most doctors in India currently opt for branded generics as they are assured of the quality of the medicines. Even though generic drug prescription is more cost effective for patients in India, there are issues but particularly in a country like India, with regards to transparency,” said the Biocon chief.

“We have come across drugs by certain companies to be less effective or spurious drugs. In oncology care it is critical that when a patient does not respond as expected, we suspect if the generic drug is effective and its bio equivalency is right. Due to corruption and a lack of transparency, certain drug manufacturers could be engaged in unethical practices. So, it is a mixed bag for doctors,” said Dr Kumar.

However for the future, finding innovator drugs is the need of the hour particularly for oncology. Globally profits from drugs are ploughed back into research and innovation. “Unfortunately, in India, this does not happen. We need newer molecules particularly to treat and control cancer. Pharma industry should now innovate even to produce generic drugs,” said the HCG chief.